Noun

1 a grammatical category in inflected languages
governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives;
in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in Indo-European
languages it is usually based on sex or animateness [syn: grammatical
gender]

2 the properties that distinguish organisms on
the basis of their reproductive roles; "she didn't want to know the
sex of the foetus" [syn: sex, sexuality]

Most uses of the root gen in Indo-European
languages refer either directly to what pertains to birth or, by
extension, to natural, innate qualities and their consequent social
distinctions (for example gentry, generation, gentile, genocide and
eugenics). The first edition of the Oxford
English Dictionary (OED1, Volume 4, 1900) notes the original
meaning of gender as 'kind' had already become obsolete.

As masculinity or femininity

1387-8: No mo genders been there but masculine, and femynyne,
all the remnaunte been no genders but of grace, in facultie of
grammar — Thomas Usk,
The Testament of Love II iii (Walter
William Skeat) 13.

1709: Of the fair sex ... my only consolation for being of that
gender has been the assurance it gave me of never being married to
any one among them —
Mary Wortley Montagu, Letters to Mrs Wortley lxvi 108.

The words for this concept
are not related to gen- in all Indo-European languages (for
example, rod in Slavic
languages).

The usage of gender in the context of grammatical
distinctions is a specific and technical usage. However, in
English, the word became attested more widely in the context of
grammar, than in making sexual distinctions.

This was noted in OED1, prompting Henry
Watson Fowler to recommend this usage as the primary and
preferable meaning of gender in English. "Gender ... is a
grammatical term only. To talk of persons ... of the masculine or
feminine g[ender], meaning of the male or female sex, is either a
jocularity (permissible or not according to context) or a
blunder."

The sense of this can be felt by analogy with a
modern expression like "persons of the female persuasion." It
should be noted, however, that this was a recommendation, neither
the Daily News nor Henry James citations (above) are "jocular" nor
"blunders." Additionally, patterns of usage of gender have
substantially changed since Fowler's day (noun class above, and
sexual stereotype below).

As a sexual stereotype

The word sex is sometimes used in
the context of social roles of men and women — for example, the
British
Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 that ended exclusion of
women from various official positions. Such usage was more common
before the 1970s, over the course
of which the feminist movement took the word gender into their own
usage to describe their theory of human nature.

Early in that decade, gender was used in ways
consistent with both the history of English and the history of
attestation of the root.

However, by the end of the decade consensus was
achieved among feminists regarding this theory and its terminology.
The theory was that human nature is essentially epicene and social distinctions
based on sex are arbitrarily constructed. Matters pertaining to
this theoretical process of social construction were labelled
matters of gender.

2000: The effectiveness of the medication appears to depend on
the sex (not gender) of the patient.

2000: In peasant societies, gender (not sex) roles are likely
to be more clearly defined.

In the last two decades of the 20th century, the
use of gender in academia increased greatly, outnumbering uses of
sex in the social sciences. Frequently, but not exclusively, this
indicates acceptance of the feminist theory of human nature.
However, in many instances, the term gender still refers to sexual
distinction generally without such an assumption.

2004: Among the reasons that working scientists have given me
for choosing gender rather than sex in biological contexts are
desires to signal sympathy with feminist goals, to use a more
academic term, or to avoid the connotation of copulation — David
Haig, The Inexorable Rise of Gender and the Decline of Sex.

In
fact, the ideological distinction between sex and gender is only
fitfully observed. More common is the use of modifiers:
biologisches Geschlecht for 'biological sex', Geschlechtsidentität
for 'gender identity' and Geschlechtsrolle for 'gender role', and
so on. Both German and Dutch use a separate word, :de:Genus, for
grammatical gender.

Swedish (clear distinction in nouns — genus and
kön)

In Swedish, 'gender' is translated with the
linguistically cognate :sv:genus,
including sociological contexts, thus: Genusstudier (gender
studies) and Genusvetenskap (gender science). 'Sex' in Swedish,
however, only signifies sexual relations, and not the proposed
English dichotomy, a concept for which :sv:kön (also
from PIE
gen-) is used. A common distinction is then made between kön (sex)
and genus (gender), where the former refers only to biological sex.
However, Swedish uses the words sv:könsroll
and :sv:könsidentitet
(literally 'sex role' and 'sex-identity') for the English terms
'gender role' and 'gender identity'.

Summary

The historical meaning of gender is something like
"things we treat differently because of their inherent
differences". It has three common applications in contemporary
English. Most commonly it is applied to the general differences
between men and women, without any assumptions regarding biology or
sociology. Sometimes however, the usage is technical or assumes a
particular theory of human nature, this is always clear from the
context. Finally the same word, gender, is also commonly applied to
the independent concept of distinctive word categories in certain
languages. Grammatical gender has little or nothing to do with
differences between men and women.

Likewise, the word sex has two distinct meanings
in English. It can be used to describe whether an individual of a
sexually reproducing species is physically male or female. Sex in
this sense means of or pertaining to reproduction. Used this way,
sex, male and female view humans as Homo sapiens and are
impersonal, or dehumanizing, in many contexts.

Person A: We just had our first baby!

Reply 1: Boy or girl? (personal, suited to a friend)

Reply 2: Male or female? (impersonal, suited to a doctor — or
vet — unsuited to a friend)

The word sex is also used to refer
to erotic behaviour between humans, rather more broadly than mating
is used of animals. Reproduction is not assumed in reference to
human sexual behaviour. Both uses of sex are clearly relevant to
the study of differences between men and women.

Biology of gender

The biology
of gender became the subject of an expanding number of studies
over the course of the late 20th century. One of the earliest areas
of interest was what is now called gender
identity disorder (GID). Studies in this, and related areas,
inform the following summary of the subject by John Money, a
pioneer and controversial sex and gender researcher.

Money refers to attempts to distinguish a
difference between biological sex and social gender as
"scientifically debased", because of our increased knowledge of a
continuum of dimorphic
features (Money's word is "dipolar"), that link biological and
behavioural differences. These extend from the exclusively
biological "genetic" and "prenatal hormonal" differences between
men and women, to postnatal features, some of which are social, but
others have been shown to result from "postpubertal hormonal"
effects.

Prior to recent technology that made study of
brain differences
possible, observable differences in behaviour between men and women
could not be adequately explained solely on the basis of the
limited observable physical differences between them. Hence the,
then plausible, theory that these differences might be explained by
arbitrary cultural assignments of roles. However, Money notes
concisely that masculine or feminine self-identity is now seen as
essentially an expression of dimorphic brain structure (Money's
word is "coding"). The new discoveries have an additional advantage
over the theory of cultural arbitrariness of gender roles, as they
help explain the similarities between these roles in widely
divergent cultures (see Steven
Pinker on Donald
Brown's Human
Universals, including romantic
love, sexual
jealousy, and patriarchy).

Although causation from the biological — genetic and
hormonal —
to the behavioural has been broadly demonstrated and accepted,
Money is careful to also note that understanding of the causal
chains from biology to behaviour in sex and gender issues is very
far from complete. For example, we have not conclusively identified
a "gay
gene", but nor have we excluded such a possibility.

The following systematic list (gender
taxonomy) illustrates the kinds of diversity that have been
studied and reported in medical literature. It is placed in roughly
chronological order of biological and social development in the
human life
cycle. The earlier stages are more purely biological and the
latter are more dominantly social. Causation is known to operate
from chromosome to gonads, and from gonads to hormones. It is also
significant from brain structure to gender identity (see Money
quote above). Brain structure and processing (biological) that may
explain erotic preference (social), however, is an area of ongoing
research. Terminology in some areas changes quite rapidly to
accommodate the constantly growing knowledge base. One journal,
published since 2002, is specifically devoted to
Genes, Brains and Behavior. An interactive, animated display of
early development is available
online.

Sex

Sexual reproduction

Sexual
reproduction is a popular system of producing new individuals
within various species. Individuals of sexually reproducing species
produce special kinds of cells
called gametes, whose
function is specifically to fuse with one unlike gamete and hence
form a new individual. This fusion of two unlike gametes is called
fertilization. By
convention, where one type of gamete cell is physically larger than
the other, it is associated with female sex. Thus an individual
that produces exclusively large gametes (ova in humans) is said to be
female, and one that produces exclusively small gametes (spermatozoa in
humans) is said to be male. An individual that produces both types
of gametes is called hermaphrodite (a name applicable also to
people with one testis and one ovary). In some species
hermaphrodites can self-fertilize, in others they can achieve
fertilization with females, males or both. Some species, like the
Japanese Ash, Fraxinus
lanuginosa, only have males and hermaphrodites, a rare
reproductive system called androdioecy.

What is considered defining of sexual
reproduction is the difference between the gametes and the binary
nature of fertilization. Multiplicity of gamete types within a
species would still be considered a form of sexual reproduction.
However, of more than 1.5 million living species, recorded up to
about the year 2000, "no third sex cell — and so no third sex — has
appeared in multicellular animals." Why sexual reproduction has an
exclusively binary gamete system is not yet known. A few rare
species that push the boundaries of the definitions are the subject
of active research for light they may shed on the mechanisms of the
evolution
of sex. For example, the most toxic insect, the harvester ant
Pogonomyrmex,
has two kinds of female and two kinds of male. One hypothesis is
that the species is a hybrid,
evolved from two closely related preceding species.

Fossil records indicate that sexual reproduction
has been occurring for at least one billion years. However, the
reason for the initial evolution of sex, and the reason it has
survived to the present are still matters of debate, there are many
plausible theories. It appears that the ability to reproduce
sexually has evolved independently in various species on many
occasions. There are cases where it has also been lost. The
flatworm, Dugesia
tigrina, and a few other species can reproduce either sexually
or asexually
depending on various conditions.

Sexual differentiation

Although sexual reproduction is
defined at the cellular level, key features of sexual reproduction
operate within the structures of the gamete cells themselves.
Notably, gametes carry very long molecules called DNA that the biological
processes of reproduction can "read" like a book of instructions.
In fact, there are typically many of these "books", called
chromosomes. Human gametes usually have 23 chromosomes, 22 of which
are common to both sexes. The final chromosomes in the two human
gametes are called sex chromosomes because of their role in
sex determination. Ova always have the
same sex chromosome, labelled X. About
half of spermatozoa
also have this same X chromosome, the rest have a Y
chromosome. At fertilization the gametes fuse to form a cell,
usually with 46 chromosomes, and either XX female or XY male,
depending on whether the sperm carried an X or a Y chromosome. Some
of the other possibilities are listed above.

In humans, the "default"
processes of reproduction result in an individual with female
characteristics. An intact Y chromosome contains what is needed to
"reprogram" the processes sufficiently to produce male
characteristics, leading to sexual
differentiation (see also Sexual
dimorphism). Part of the Y chromosome, the Sex-determining Region
Y (SRY), causes what would normally become ovaries to become
testes. These, in turn, produce male hormones called androgens.
However, several points in the processes have been identified where
variations can result in people with atypical characteristics,
including atypical sexual characteristics. Terminology for atypical
sexual characteristics has not stabilized.
Disorder of sexual development (DSD) is used by some in
preference to intersex,
which is used by others in preference to pseudohermaphroditism.

Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is an example of a DSD
that also illustrates that female development is the default for
humans. Although having one X and one Y chromosome, some people are
biologically insensitive to the androgens produced by their testes.
As a result they follow the normal human processes which result in
a person of female sex. Women who are XY report identifying as a
woman — feeling and thinking like a woman — and, where their
biology is completely insensitive to masculinizing factors,
externally they look identical to other women. Unlike other women,
however, they cannot produce ova, because they do not have
ovaries.

The human
XY system is not the only sex determination system. Birds
typically have a reverse, ZW system — males are ZZ and females ZW.
Whether male or female birds influence the sex of offspring is not
known for all species. Several species of butterfly are known to have
female parent sex determination. The platypus has a complex hybrid
system, the male has ten sex chromosomes, half X and half Y.

Genes, Brains and Behaviour

Genes

Chromosomes were likened to books (above), also like
books they have been studied at more detailed levels. They contain
"sentences" called genes. In fact, many of these sentences are
common to multiple species. Sometimes they are organized in the
same order, other times they have been "edited" — deleted, copied,
changed, moved, even relocated to another "book", as species
evolve. Genes are a particularly important part of understanding
biological processes because they are directly associated with
observable objects, outside chromosomes, called proteins, whose influence on
cell chemistry can be
measured. In some cases genes can also be directly associated with
differences clear to the naked eye, like eye-colour itself. Some of
these differences are sex specific, like hairy ears. The "hairy
ear" gene is on the Y chromosome which is why only men have it.
However, sex-limited
genes on any chromosome can "say" for example, "if you are in a
male body do X, otherwise don't." The same principle explains why
chimpanzees and
humans are distinct, despite sharing nearly all their genes.

The study of genetics is particularly
inter-disciplinary. It is relevant to almost every biological
science. It is investigated in detail by molecular level sciences,
and itself contributes details to high level abstractions like
evolutionary theory.

Brain

"It is well established that men have a larger
cerebrum than women by about 8–10% (Filipek et al., 1994; Nopoulos
et al., 2000; Passe et al., 1997a,b; Rabinowicz et al., 1999;
Witelson et al., 1995). However, what is functionally relevant are
differences in composition and "wiring", some of these differences
are very pronounced. Richard J.
Haier and colleagues at the universities of New
Mexico and
California (Irvine) found, using brain
mapping, that men have more than six times the amount of
grey
matter related to general intelligence than women,
and women have nearly ten times the amount of white matter
related to intelligence than men.

Gray matter is used for information processing,
while white matter consists of the connections between processing
centers. Other differences are measurable but less pronounced. Most
of these differences are known to be produced by the activity of
hormones, hence ultimately derived from the Y chromosome and sexual
differentiation. However, differences arising from the activity of
genes directly have also been observed. It has also been
demonstrated that brain processing responds to the external
environment. Learning, both of ideas and behaviours, appears to be
coded in brain processes. It also appears that in several
simplified cases this coding operates differently, but in some ways
equivalently, in the brains of men and women. For example, both men
and women learn and use language; however, bio-chemically,
they appear to process it differently. Differences in male and
female use of language are likely reflections both of biological
preferences and aptitudes, and of learned patterns.

Two of the main fields that study brain
structure, biological (and other causes) and behavioural (and other
results) are brain neurology and biological
psychology. Cognitive
science is another important discipline in the field of brain
research.

Behaviour

Some behaviours are so simple that biological
explanation may be sufficient. Blinking, yawning and stretching are
more reflexes than
behaviours. However, etiquette and protocol are complicated
behaviours, presumably influenced by many environmental factors,
including social (man-made) ones. A large area of research in
behavioural
psychology collates evidence in an effort to discover correlations between
behaviour and various possible antecedents such as genetics,
culture, gender, physical or social development, or physical or
social environments.

A core research area within sociology is the way
human behaviour operates on itself, in other words, how the
behaviour of one group or individual influences the behaviour of
other groups or individuals. Starting in the late 20th century, the
feminist movement has contributed extensive study of gender and
theories about it, notably within sociology but not restricted to
it.

Social categories

Sociology

Sexologist John Money coined the term
gender role in 1955. "The term gender role is used to signify all
those things that a person says or does to disclose himself or
herself as having the status of boy or man, girl or woman,
respectively. It includes, but is not restricted to, sexuality in
the sense of eroticism." Elements of such a role include clothing,
speech patterns, movement, occupations and other factors not
limited to biological sex. Because social aspects of gender can
normally be presumed to be the ones of interest in sociology and
closely related disciplines, gender role is often abbreviated to
gender in their literature, without leading to ambiguity in that
context.

Most societies have only two distinct, broad
classes of gender roles — male and female — and these correspond
with biological sex. However, some societies explicitly incorporate
people who adopt the gender role opposite to their biological sex,
for example the Two-Spirit
people of some indigenous American peoples. Other societies include
well-developed roles that are explicitly considered more or less
distinct from archetypal male and female roles in those societies.
In the language of the sociology
of gender they comprise a third
gender, more or less distinct from biological sex (sometimes
the basis for the role does include intersexuality or incorporates
eunuchs). One such gender
role is that adopted by the hijras
of India and
Pakistan.
The Bugis
people of Sulawesi, Indonesia have a
tradition incorporating all of the features above. Joan
Roughgarden argues that in some non-human animal species, there
can also be said to be more than two genders, in that there might
be multiple templates for behavior available to individual
organisms with a given biological sex.

Throughout history social theorists have sought
to determine the specific nature of gender in relation to
biological sex and sexuality, with the result being that culturally
established gender and sex have become interchangeable
identifications which signify the allocation of a specific
‘biological’ sex within a categorical
gender.